Walmart U.S. says confident about holidays

Retailer breaks out Ecom goal, plans more Neighborhood Markets

NEW YORK (MarketWatch) — Walmart U.S., the largest unit of retail giant Wal-Mart Stores Inc., said that it’s confident about its strategy and momentum heading into the holiday season and that it will accelerate its small-store openings, mostly in its Neighborhood Market format.

The Bentonville, Ark.-based company, for the first time since it began online sales in 2000, also broke out its goal for the unit: it targets online sales at $9 billion by fiscal 2014.

Shares of Wal-Mart
WMT, -0.25%
part of the Dow Jones Industrial Average
DJIA, -0.32%
rose 1.7% Wednesday to $75.42 — their all-time closing high and the biggest gainer in the blue-chip benchmark while the broader markets declined.

For the year, Wal-Mart’s shares have risen 26%, to rank as the fourth best performer in the 30-component Dow, which was up 9.2% the same period.

The outlook for Walmart U.S. is important for investors because it totaled about $260 billion in sales, or three-fifths of the company’s business, last year.

Toy makers display holiday wares

(2:19)

Toy makers such as Hasbro and Mattel roll out entrants for the busy holiday toy season. A new Furby and Barbie are among the holiday hopefuls. MarketWatch's Andria Cheng reports via WSJ's #WorldStream.

Coming off a strong back-to-school period, Walmart U.S. said it plans to increase its marketing, including featuring commercials on layaway, which it made available a month earlier than last year, as well as on ad-matching guarantees and price comparison on a basket of goods against rival retailers including Dollar General Corp.
DG, +0.32%
as well as supermarket chains from Safeway Inc.
US:SWY
to Kroger Co.
KR, +0.62%

Walmart U.S. also will use Facebook and other social media to drive sales, such as allowing its 22 million Facebook fans to vote on toys they’d like to see “rollbacks,” or temporary discounts, on.

On the merchandising end, the company said it bought “deep” on hot holiday items, including Furby and Apple Inc.’s iPad.

It also has begun to test same-day delivery services in four markets in the Bay area, Philadelphia, Minneapolis and Washington, D.C., where stores within the same zip code will fulfill and ship orders. Other retailers, from Macy’s Inc.
M, -0.39%
to Toys ‘R’ Us, now allow some stores to ship and fulfill online orders directly, as bricks-and-mortar retailers seek a better competitive posture against online rivals led by Amazon.com Inc.
AMZN, -0.11%Read more about Wal-Mart vs. Amazon.

Walmart U.S.’s comparable sales for the first half have risen 2.4%, as it increased traffic and gained market share, Bill Simon, head of Walmart U.S., said at the company’s annual analyst meeting.

Walmart U.S. last year returned to comparable sales growth following two years of declines, helped by its strategy to broaden product assortment and add back products such as hunting and fishing equipment, and to lower prices.

For various categories, the company also has provided choices at different prices. For instance, Halloween costumes range from $7 at the low end to $23 at the high end.

“The more traffic we get, the better we are able to leverage” expenses, Simon said at the meeting. “We are well positioned for success.”

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